So using say, Visual Studio 2010+, I will be able to target a WP8 device (Surface, Novia 920), produce an executable for it, and install it to any device without first getting a license, or do you mean only the devices I have present to work on? I
I'm not sure. I disabled chat as soon as I got that feature, so I don't know where the messages go. And that's one of the frustrating aspects of Facebook. Someone in another thread referred to the old Facebook as a walled garden, I suppose versus MySpace and the other social nets of that time. New features don't just appear for everyone at the same time. I had friends who had the "new" timeline before I did, and I had feature they didn't have. I have friends that have bugs that I don't have as well, including sudden deletions of contacts. So considering this, who knows what sort of privacy problems exist. There may be users that are exposing a lot of information but not realizing it because none of their contacts have that particular problem.
This isn't the same story. Can't possibly be; or if so, it's happened again, making it a new story. My private messages (not chat, not wall posts) were available on my historial timeline for anyone with permission to view me to access. This wasn't true before, and this has happened to everyone I know so far.
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NEWS JUST IN... Antediluvian Heights man Noah Finklestein fresh off a citation for public drunkenness and indecent exposure was seen this evening constructing a large boat on his front lawn. The Ark as he has called it is already catching the ire of the neighborhood home owner's association. HOA representative Ruth Samuel issued a statement earlier this evening: "Clearly, this boat violates his home owner's agreement. Look at the size of this thing. And the animals! It's like he has two of every kind here. They smell horrible. They're ruining the lawns, ALL of the lawns. I don't even know how he could have gotten them all here this quickly. It's a gated community." When asked for comment, Noah replied: "Storm's a comin'. She's comin' on strong."
Do you have any citations for any of this, especially for Brin's emotions in this? Everything I've ever found has been more tempered, or did you add emphasis?
Their public attitude towards American workers? I'm not following you. What is Apple doing to American workers? Is Apple treating American workers the way say Motorola treats everyone in Libertyville and Chicago? Why would you even compare Apple to Samsung on the semiconductor business? Apple isn't in the semiconductor business; it's a customer. Part of Samsung's business model is to be a manufacturer of components for other companies. As for that story about Apple's chips being made by Samsung in Texas, doesn't that give Apple even a few points for citizenship since the company is continuing to use Samsung? Also as mentioned in the article, there are thousands of Apple employees living in that Austin location in Texas because Apple has a major call center there. What you've written kinda sounds like you're saying Samsung is good for having American workers in Austin, but Apple is bad... for having American workers in Austin.
You're no longer locked into just two carriers as of iPhone 5. The lock-in remains, but it's not really an issue. If you don't like iPhone, it's going to be the totality of the platform that puts you off, so you're going to leave the platform. It's a different kind of disappointment I think than loving Android, but disliking a particular phone. That's where I am. I've come to hate every Android phone that's followed the original Droid. The SIII and (for now) the HTC One X at least has my attention.
Or he lives in a place with really poor coverage. These places do still exist throughout the U.S.. I was in Alabama once when the best option out there was Alltel. I don't think Verizon was available yet. For myself, I have to have coverage when I go deep into desert or into the mountains. Whilst my use is professional, the people I run into daily need that coverage for their daily personal usage. That's always been Verizon's selling point aside from Moto phones.
I'm tired of the religious zealotry too, but consider the importance that fidelity to Israel has in American politics for a sec. An American politician who doesn't pronounce he would defend Israel to the death would get eaten alive by either party as well as several political groups. Look at the recent Democratic National Convention. There was a need to publicly proclaim that Jerusalem is and will forever be the capital of Israel. If you lean to the right in the country and are evangelical, Israel factors heavily in your view on foreign policy. The United States puts forth at the very least, the perception that Israel has a strong influence over American national politics during elections. If that weren't so, American politicians wouldn't feel a need to wear a yamaka then publicly speak of their love for Israel whilst pandering for votes. We don't do this for Turkey or Egypt or Jordan. At least when we reaffirm the One China policy, we only do it when we visit with a Chinese delegation. When Romney went to Israel to do fundraising for an American presidential election, it turned heads in the U.K., and it got a lot of people asking questions. Sure, you can argue that this perception is really the fault of American politicians trying to appease evangelicals with their Temple Mount doomsday wet dreams, but either way, it looks bad and it affirms beliefs that the Jews are trying to control the world.
Those of us who don't live in your California suburb and who have multiple devices on a wireless carrier's network. I pay $130 for a smartphone with unlimited data, text, and a lot of minutes plus an additional traditional flip phone on Verizon. You can probably tell I'm grandfathered under the old plan. Verizon is going to push me into a new contract one way or another either with them or a new carrier. I need a lot of reliability even in the middle of nowhere, and I need about 3GB data and a lot of texting. Verizon's new plans which I will be pushed into if I upgrade will cost me probably around $150. I can see some people easily running $200 if they use a tablet on their carrier's network. I believe it would cost me maybe $40 to add an iPad/Android tablet to my plan. That will be nearly $200 right there.
I still remember when the German rock band Scorpions played Moscow along with Bon Jovi and a slew of American hard rock and heavy metal bands. Not long after, the wall was coming down and many of us celebrated. The Eastern Bloc was destined to collapse. It was going to happen because of the inefficiencies in the system, isolation, and government crippling of technology. But aging military equipment and aging infrastructure is only one prong. That doesn't just take down a country over night. Winning the masses made the difference in the Cold War. For years, American culture trickled into East Germany and USSR (and I'm sure the rest of the Bloc). You could get bootlegs of American rock albums printed on discarded medical x-ray film. But when western hard rock and heavy metal bands began playing in Moscow, it became a catalyst for a rush of imported American culture. Not to be over-simplistic, East Germans began flooding out of the GDR for reasons other than music, chiefly Honecker's cheating and his crackdowns. But before all of this, many people in the Eastern Bloc were unaware of what they were missing, and once they saw it, the desire to have better became overwhelming. Embracing Persians, Syrians, and Cuban might create that same catalyst. And, if you're a free marketer, that's three new markets.
Funny, I often wish that the Ron Paul supporters would be carted off to an island prison somewhere where they could establish their happy 18th century utopia paying for goods and services with chickens; yet, everywhere I look, there's a Ron Paul supporter happily screaming in tongues about FEMA camps, the gold standard, and the evils of medical licenses, so I'm waiting AC, let's see that disappearing act.
Honestly, I never found sound reasoning in any of the practices of ancient cultures that remain today only out of tradition. It amazes me that we would look to ancient people for any wisdom regarding health and disease when we know vastly more today. I'm not saying that an ancient primitive tribe that knows how to utilize a rare plant we don't have access to should be ignored, I'm just saying we ought to take these things into context. In the ancient mediterranean world of Abraham, women were chattel, sexual morality was closely tied to the way women were treated. They were a superstitious people that whilst having an understanding of the stars and math, still believed that you should wash your hands palms down to that the evil spirits that try to possess you during the night are washed away. I've asked about the rules against eating pork and such. The response I got was that health had nothing to do with it. It was simply an order from God, thus you follow. I bet the reality is these rules and traditions originated with personal and community biases that became codified by those in power. "Do not wear clothing woven from two different kinds of thread" for all we know was a response against a particularly talented fashion designer of the era that made clothes that showed off too much skin.
There's something like 70,000 erogenous nerve endings in the foreskin as I understand it, and foreskin plays a part in providing the extra skin for a full erection and plays a part in helping to keep intercourse comfortable, so whilst not necessary for some life-preserving function, it clearly facilitates sex. One thing is absolutely certain, those circumcised people who have endured horrible mangling (actual disfiguring) as a result of circumcisions probably would have liked to have had a choice.
As I recall, the "less AIDS" argument was the result of numbers taken from a survey done in Africa which was highly problematic for several reasons including that circumcised group were given increased behavioral monitoring and education on STDs whilst the uncircumcised group were more or less encouraged to maintain their sexual behavior.
I've seen something similar in wikipedia entries for musical groups, especially hard rock/heavy metal bands. It's always about associated genres, whether one is *core or *metal or something odd other phrase. If the band is from the '80s, the popular thing is to have a long drawn out Talk argument about labels like hair metal and glam metal which leads to lists of similar bands. Finally, someone will come in and cite to Rolling Stone magazine, which actually has never been a very good primary source for hard rock musicians. It's so infantile that it often makes me wonder if similar fan wars occur in other subjects too like impressionism in painting.
Thank you for the links. The first link, a blog post by the co-founder of JibJab isn't really proof of anything; nor is a Forbes story pointing out that a number of people did go out and buy SIIIs immediately following the verdict. I should have been more clear. I'm sure there is some negative public reaction to the verdict, but I don't think it's substantial enough to have an actual effect. I would still bet that most cell phone consumers either did not follow this case, or didn't care. I brought up the topic often throughout the case, and outside of the domain of self-described tech enthusiasts who follow tech blogs and news sources, no one who owned either an iPhone or Android knew what was going on or particularly cared. I bet most of us can replicate this. The SIII is a cool phone, but if this sales boost is really indicative of a consumer shift, it will be something sustainable that we'll be able to observe months from now after the new iPhone 5 is out and Samsung has made an S-IV. Otherwise, we can probably discount this as a one-time market reaction.
If people are wondering why they should pay so much more for an iPhone vs the SIII, they're going to be underwhelmed if they go out tonight to shop. I just looked at Verizon, and the S-III 32GB is $249. The iPhone 4S 32GB is $299. $50 isn't a huge difference. Apple advertises the 32GB unlocked and off contract for $750. One store had the SIII for $750. Amazon has listings for $600 but original list price of $900. The SIII is not an inexpensive phone. I bet I can find an iPhone 4S at a discounted price somewhere, so again, the delta probably will remain similar. The iPhone 4S definitely has a premium.
Gear/petrol heads are as diverse as computer enthusiasts are. I might buy a sealed up automatic, depending on the car. I'd have to really trust the car and feel more confidence in the brand's technicians than in myself. I would buy an automatic Ferrari Californian easily, or a Lamborghini Aventador. Many of gear heads aren't tinkerers. I myself am a driver, and I like exotic super cars. My father is into old American muscle and hot rods. He likes the idea of building a car, and I just want to a really great road to drive on. I would never go tinkering around under the hood of a Lamborghini or a Ferrari or a Bugatti. I would, and do, for BMWs and Hondas however, but I have the tools and know-how for older BMWs and a Honda is just a Honda. Some guys love taking Honda Civics and Ford Focuses and turning them into street racers. To me, they're the metaphor for the typical gaming PC enthusiast, even down to the glowing lights under the chassis. They create some awesome machines - both PC enthusiasts and car tuners. I, like other super car lovers, want the specific native experience each car offers. It's fun talking about Ferrari vs Lamborghini, but it's not fun (for me) trying to find a way of blending the two experiences. So, as primarily a Macintosh guy, I prefer my Mac experience enough that having a totally closed system that doesn't give me much customization isn't a problem. That's not to say that the Macintosh way is always the better way. Frequently it isn't.
What bad PR? The vast majority of consumers did not follow the case and were either blissfully unaware or apathetic about it. Apple hasn't in the least been bruised by this except amongst a small faction of consumers that use their spending to stick it to companies they don't like. If you bought an SIII because of Apple's lawsuit, then you probably would have bought some Android anyway. Even if those people don't buy an iPhone 5, there is a huge number of people who will. It's expected that iPhone 5 sales will be huge. Remember, there's a huge number of iPhone 4 and earlier owners who did not switch to the 4S and have been waiting.
There are those annoyances for sure. I do prefer a web-based storefront for convenience, and as I implied, I don't like being tethered to a single application. Being Mac-based, I preferred the Zune HD to the iPod but couldn't use it again because somebody (Microsoft) had to have native gatekeeper application. For content, my preferences dictate that I use iTunes because the videos and magazines I want aren't on Google Play. I will have to check out Google Play again though. I just looked up Retrogamer (a UK old school gaming magazine) to see if it was available, and I saw that I can now get a subscription via Zinio. I'm currently using the Retrogamer app on iOS which is collated with other magazines in iOS' Newsstand. Maybe more of my zines are available now. I'll definitely concede that as more content becomes available on Google Play, I will come to like it more than iTunes. I don't even use iTunes for playback of music; but there's still the apps, and there's a number of iOS apps which don't exist on Android. So at this point, iTunes is vastly better for me.
I use both Google Play and iTunes. iTunes as a storefront is better, much better. As software, it's a gatekeeper, and I really don't like that. Then again, I really hate the concept of syncing content to my phone vs dragging and dropping onto a mounted volume. iPhones do NOT cost twice as much as similar smart phones. Similar high end smart phones are all about the same, especially when you take into account subsidies. I do not recognize budget Android phones as being similar to even my original Droid. What iPhone has going for it is the software, and software is what matters. USB hasn't been a utopia. I've got numerous USB devices that aren't compatible with each other. I've got multiple connector types. I've got cables that don't seem to work properly with certain USB devices. It's not the mess that it used to be when every phone had its own connector and plug, but really it's not that great. And it's not as if one now has to go and buy multiple cables or replacement hardware or suffer incompatibility between their smart phone and every other USB device they have. With iPhone, this will be more of a hassle though because there are a number of third party products that use the old connector including speakers, alarm clocks, etc. And these are designed to connect snuggly to prominently display the phone, so I don't expect there to be a workable solution short of an ugly adapter cable.
"just live your life like all the heterosexuals do."
That's what most homosexuals are trying to do, but they're being stopped by heterosexuals want to keep that from happening in order to maintain that thin veil of otherness between the two groups.
Same sex marriage proponents feel our viewpoint is the be all end all as you put it for a number of reasons: your opposition against same sex marriage stems from 1) personal discomfort and dislike, and 2) religious belief that marriage is defined as being between one man and one woman. Addressing #1, your personal fears and prejudices ought not legally bind the rights of other groups of people. If you dislike gays or supporters of gays, choose not to associate with them. If you see a gay couple, look away. Think that homosexuality is a "choice" that people make, then deal with it and move on. Not everyone celebrates your choices. And it is not enough to concede the separate but equal policy of civil unions when you know very well there are numerous legal rights which stem from marital status. Addressing #2, your biblical view of marriage is based on highly subjective material that requires interpretation and which isn't even authoritative for law in our pluralistic society anyway. Polygamy was heavy in the Old Testament. Whether monogamy was ultimately the one true way is a matter of theological debate amongst religious scholars. Ignoring the biblical faiths, polygamy was still a very long, very common practice throughout world. Ergo, marriage has never in human history been defined strictly as between one man and one woman, not in the West, not in the East, not even in the United States. Even if we settled on a singular moral source for opposing same sex marriage (requiring that we pick a faith, pick a subcategory religion within that faith, then focus on which interpretation of their holy book we prefer), what we have left is still a mandate that cannot be forced upon an entire nation of people. That's just two of the main opposition arguments. The others are increasingly illogical and emotional.
Pointing out that peaceful opposition is often meant with hostility from same sex proponents is idiotic. Of course, the reaction will be harsh. Newsflash: we're not arguing about Ford vs Chevy, or Coke vs Pepsi, or anything else that's trivial. We are arguing about one group wanting legal recognition of a status (marriage) and all the associated rights (well over 100) that branch from that status vs a group of opponents that seriously argued that if gays are allowed to marry, heterosexual marriages will stop being special and heterosexuals will start pursuing gay relationships.
Opponents of same sex marriage are rightly called homophobic when their arguments against SSM give way to their fears of a homosexuality spreading into the open like wild fire. I don't know of anyone being called a racist for not approving of gay marriage. As for intolerant, I'll concede that ground. It is the pot calling the kettle black. Just as you might be intolerant of gay people wanting to marry or gays just walking above ground during daylight hours and thrusting themselves into the public spotlight by showing affection; I (a heterosexual) am intolerant of heterosexuals and closeted homosexuals that try to prevent all that.
As for a TLD, I missed that meeting where every SSM supporter or gay advocate said that we shall unilaterally pursue a TLD. My guess is that.GAY is an effort to cash in on that mythical sense of community that too many homosexuals have been shepherded into believing exists (gay advocates like Dan Savage have promoted this notoriously)..GAY at best is a domain name cash grab and at worst, an attempt to construct a honeypot that will make it easier to block those scary scary gays with their agenda to convert all our children. Don't worry about the.GAY TLD. The only thing that will make you bow down and visit a.GAY website if your own curiosity.
You kinda failed to ignore Apple yourself there. I might leave Verizon for AT&T as well. They will have the more interesting Windows phone, the iPhone 5, and Androids that aren't Motorola (which I am no longer supporting). Sure, AT&T customers have their own complaints, but for years I've stuck with Verizon because Verizon swore that life outside Verizon walls was no life at all. It was cold and dangerous, and there was no connectivity. It's just not that true in my area. Besides, I know that once I have a 4G phone in my hands, I'll blow through Verizon's paltry bandwidth cap in no time at all (I'm grandfathered unlimited now). There's just no benefit to being with Verizon under the new plans once you discount for connectivity in the middle of nowhere like Mojave unless you really want one of the exclusive phones.
You're probably right. I should admit that to me a lot of today's rock music sounds indistinguishable from other music in the same genre. I'm curious what their sample size was and how samples were selected for study. It all or most of it came from Billboard charts, that might mean the data is skewed towards melodic music to begin with. There are some musicians out there that I just cannot listen to because their sounds are so dissonant; yet, fans will swear that I'm missing out on some uber amazing progressive stuff. Yeah, I'll give the article another read. Maybe there is something to it.
I'm an Apple lover, but I definitely don't want Nintendo following Apple. I've found that it's been very easy to find just the right Nintendo I want for whichever target person. Nintendo has done remarkably well here. It's only really a problem if you're the sort that wants to own one of each because you'll have to buy one more iteration. Apple does make it mostly easy to decide which Apple model one wants, but I myself often tend to fall in between the cracks where there's either overlap between models or a gap which none of the models fill for me.
Slashdot Mirror
So using say, Visual Studio 2010+, I will be able to target a WP8 device (Surface, Novia 920), produce an executable for it, and install it to any device without first getting a license, or do you mean only the devices I have present to work on? I
I'm not sure. I disabled chat as soon as I got that feature, so I don't know where the messages go. And that's one of the frustrating aspects of Facebook. Someone in another thread referred to the old Facebook as a walled garden, I suppose versus MySpace and the other social nets of that time. New features don't just appear for everyone at the same time. I had friends who had the "new" timeline before I did, and I had feature they didn't have. I have friends that have bugs that I don't have as well, including sudden deletions of contacts. So considering this, who knows what sort of privacy problems exist. There may be users that are exposing a lot of information but not realizing it because none of their contacts have that particular problem.
This isn't the same story. Can't possibly be; or if so, it's happened again, making it a new story. My private messages (not chat, not wall posts) were available on my historial timeline for anyone with permission to view me to access. This wasn't true before, and this has happened to everyone I know so far.
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NEWS JUST IN... Antediluvian Heights man Noah Finklestein fresh off a citation for public drunkenness and indecent exposure was seen this evening constructing a large boat on his front lawn. The Ark as he has called it is already catching the ire of the neighborhood home owner's association. HOA representative Ruth Samuel issued a statement earlier this evening: "Clearly, this boat violates his home owner's agreement. Look at the size of this thing. And the animals! It's like he has two of every kind here. They smell horrible. They're ruining the lawns, ALL of the lawns. I don't even know how he could have gotten them all here this quickly. It's a gated community." When asked for comment, Noah replied: "Storm's a comin'. She's comin' on strong."
Seriously, Slashdot. Get a calendar.
Do you have any citations for any of this, especially for Brin's emotions in this? Everything I've ever found has been more tempered, or did you add emphasis?
Their public attitude towards American workers? I'm not following you. What is Apple doing to American workers? Is Apple treating American workers the way say Motorola treats everyone in Libertyville and Chicago? Why would you even compare Apple to Samsung on the semiconductor business? Apple isn't in the semiconductor business; it's a customer. Part of Samsung's business model is to be a manufacturer of components for other companies. As for that story about Apple's chips being made by Samsung in Texas, doesn't that give Apple even a few points for citizenship since the company is continuing to use Samsung? Also as mentioned in the article, there are thousands of Apple employees living in that Austin location in Texas because Apple has a major call center there. What you've written kinda sounds like you're saying Samsung is good for having American workers in Austin, but Apple is bad... for having American workers in Austin.
You're no longer locked into just two carriers as of iPhone 5. The lock-in remains, but it's not really an issue. If you don't like iPhone, it's going to be the totality of the platform that puts you off, so you're going to leave the platform. It's a different kind of disappointment I think than loving Android, but disliking a particular phone. That's where I am. I've come to hate every Android phone that's followed the original Droid. The SIII and (for now) the HTC One X at least has my attention.
Or he lives in a place with really poor coverage. These places do still exist throughout the U.S.. I was in Alabama once when the best option out there was Alltel. I don't think Verizon was available yet. For myself, I have to have coverage when I go deep into desert or into the mountains. Whilst my use is professional, the people I run into daily need that coverage for their daily personal usage. That's always been Verizon's selling point aside from Moto phones.
I'm tired of the religious zealotry too, but consider the importance that fidelity to Israel has in American politics for a sec. An American politician who doesn't pronounce he would defend Israel to the death would get eaten alive by either party as well as several political groups. Look at the recent Democratic National Convention. There was a need to publicly proclaim that Jerusalem is and will forever be the capital of Israel. If you lean to the right in the country and are evangelical, Israel factors heavily in your view on foreign policy. The United States puts forth at the very least, the perception that Israel has a strong influence over American national politics during elections. If that weren't so, American politicians wouldn't feel a need to wear a yamaka then publicly speak of their love for Israel whilst pandering for votes. We don't do this for Turkey or Egypt or Jordan. At least when we reaffirm the One China policy, we only do it when we visit with a Chinese delegation. When Romney went to Israel to do fundraising for an American presidential election, it turned heads in the U.K., and it got a lot of people asking questions. Sure, you can argue that this perception is really the fault of American politicians trying to appease evangelicals with their Temple Mount doomsday wet dreams, but either way, it looks bad and it affirms beliefs that the Jews are trying to control the world.
Those of us who don't live in your California suburb and who have multiple devices on a wireless carrier's network. I pay $130 for a smartphone with unlimited data, text, and a lot of minutes plus an additional traditional flip phone on Verizon. You can probably tell I'm grandfathered under the old plan. Verizon is going to push me into a new contract one way or another either with them or a new carrier. I need a lot of reliability even in the middle of nowhere, and I need about 3GB data and a lot of texting. Verizon's new plans which I will be pushed into if I upgrade will cost me probably around $150. I can see some people easily running $200 if they use a tablet on their carrier's network. I believe it would cost me maybe $40 to add an iPad/Android tablet to my plan. That will be nearly $200 right there.
I still remember when the German rock band Scorpions played Moscow along with Bon Jovi and a slew of American hard rock and heavy metal bands. Not long after, the wall was coming down and many of us celebrated. The Eastern Bloc was destined to collapse. It was going to happen because of the inefficiencies in the system, isolation, and government crippling of technology. But aging military equipment and aging infrastructure is only one prong. That doesn't just take down a country over night. Winning the masses made the difference in the Cold War. For years, American culture trickled into East Germany and USSR (and I'm sure the rest of the Bloc). You could get bootlegs of American rock albums printed on discarded medical x-ray film. But when western hard rock and heavy metal bands began playing in Moscow, it became a catalyst for a rush of imported American culture. Not to be over-simplistic, East Germans began flooding out of the GDR for reasons other than music, chiefly Honecker's cheating and his crackdowns. But before all of this, many people in the Eastern Bloc were unaware of what they were missing, and once they saw it, the desire to have better became overwhelming. Embracing Persians, Syrians, and Cuban might create that same catalyst. And, if you're a free marketer, that's three new markets.
Funny, I often wish that the Ron Paul supporters would be carted off to an island prison somewhere where they could establish their happy 18th century utopia paying for goods and services with chickens; yet, everywhere I look, there's a Ron Paul supporter happily screaming in tongues about FEMA camps, the gold standard, and the evils of medical licenses, so I'm waiting AC, let's see that disappearing act.
So you made MTG into a drinking game as well?
Honestly, I never found sound reasoning in any of the practices of ancient cultures that remain today only out of tradition. It amazes me that we would look to ancient people for any wisdom regarding health and disease when we know vastly more today. I'm not saying that an ancient primitive tribe that knows how to utilize a rare plant we don't have access to should be ignored, I'm just saying we ought to take these things into context. In the ancient mediterranean world of Abraham, women were chattel, sexual morality was closely tied to the way women were treated. They were a superstitious people that whilst having an understanding of the stars and math, still believed that you should wash your hands palms down to that the evil spirits that try to possess you during the night are washed away. I've asked about the rules against eating pork and such. The response I got was that health had nothing to do with it. It was simply an order from God, thus you follow. I bet the reality is these rules and traditions originated with personal and community biases that became codified by those in power. "Do not wear clothing woven from two different kinds of thread" for all we know was a response against a particularly talented fashion designer of the era that made clothes that showed off too much skin.
There's something like 70,000 erogenous nerve endings in the foreskin as I understand it, and foreskin plays a part in providing the extra skin for a full erection and plays a part in helping to keep intercourse comfortable, so whilst not necessary for some life-preserving function, it clearly facilitates sex. One thing is absolutely certain, those circumcised people who have endured horrible mangling (actual disfiguring) as a result of circumcisions probably would have liked to have had a choice.
As I recall, the "less AIDS" argument was the result of numbers taken from a survey done in Africa which was highly problematic for several reasons including that circumcised group were given increased behavioral monitoring and education on STDs whilst the uncircumcised group were more or less encouraged to maintain their sexual behavior.
I've seen something similar in wikipedia entries for musical groups, especially hard rock/heavy metal bands. It's always about associated genres, whether one is *core or *metal or something odd other phrase. If the band is from the '80s, the popular thing is to have a long drawn out Talk argument about labels like hair metal and glam metal which leads to lists of similar bands. Finally, someone will come in and cite to Rolling Stone magazine, which actually has never been a very good primary source for hard rock musicians. It's so infantile that it often makes me wonder if similar fan wars occur in other subjects too like impressionism in painting.
Thank you for the links. The first link, a blog post by the co-founder of JibJab isn't really proof of anything; nor is a Forbes story pointing out that a number of people did go out and buy SIIIs immediately following the verdict. I should have been more clear. I'm sure there is some negative public reaction to the verdict, but I don't think it's substantial enough to have an actual effect. I would still bet that most cell phone consumers either did not follow this case, or didn't care. I brought up the topic often throughout the case, and outside of the domain of self-described tech enthusiasts who follow tech blogs and news sources, no one who owned either an iPhone or Android knew what was going on or particularly cared. I bet most of us can replicate this. The SIII is a cool phone, but if this sales boost is really indicative of a consumer shift, it will be something sustainable that we'll be able to observe months from now after the new iPhone 5 is out and Samsung has made an S-IV. Otherwise, we can probably discount this as a one-time market reaction.
If people are wondering why they should pay so much more for an iPhone vs the SIII, they're going to be underwhelmed if they go out tonight to shop. I just looked at Verizon, and the S-III 32GB is $249. The iPhone 4S 32GB is $299. $50 isn't a huge difference. Apple advertises the 32GB unlocked and off contract for $750. One store had the SIII for $750. Amazon has listings for $600 but original list price of $900. The SIII is not an inexpensive phone. I bet I can find an iPhone 4S at a discounted price somewhere, so again, the delta probably will remain similar. The iPhone 4S definitely has a premium.
Gear/petrol heads are as diverse as computer enthusiasts are. I might buy a sealed up automatic, depending on the car. I'd have to really trust the car and feel more confidence in the brand's technicians than in myself. I would buy an automatic Ferrari Californian easily, or a Lamborghini Aventador. Many of gear heads aren't tinkerers. I myself am a driver, and I like exotic super cars. My father is into old American muscle and hot rods. He likes the idea of building a car, and I just want to a really great road to drive on. I would never go tinkering around under the hood of a Lamborghini or a Ferrari or a Bugatti. I would, and do, for BMWs and Hondas however, but I have the tools and know-how for older BMWs and a Honda is just a Honda. Some guys love taking Honda Civics and Ford Focuses and turning them into street racers. To me, they're the metaphor for the typical gaming PC enthusiast, even down to the glowing lights under the chassis. They create some awesome machines - both PC enthusiasts and car tuners. I, like other super car lovers, want the specific native experience each car offers. It's fun talking about Ferrari vs Lamborghini, but it's not fun (for me) trying to find a way of blending the two experiences. So, as primarily a Macintosh guy, I prefer my Mac experience enough that having a totally closed system that doesn't give me much customization isn't a problem. That's not to say that the Macintosh way is always the better way. Frequently it isn't.
What bad PR? The vast majority of consumers did not follow the case and were either blissfully unaware or apathetic about it. Apple hasn't in the least been bruised by this except amongst a small faction of consumers that use their spending to stick it to companies they don't like. If you bought an SIII because of Apple's lawsuit, then you probably would have bought some Android anyway. Even if those people don't buy an iPhone 5, there is a huge number of people who will. It's expected that iPhone 5 sales will be huge. Remember, there's a huge number of iPhone 4 and earlier owners who did not switch to the 4S and have been waiting.
There are those annoyances for sure. I do prefer a web-based storefront for convenience, and as I implied, I don't like being tethered to a single application. Being Mac-based, I preferred the Zune HD to the iPod but couldn't use it again because somebody (Microsoft) had to have native gatekeeper application. For content, my preferences dictate that I use iTunes because the videos and magazines I want aren't on Google Play. I will have to check out Google Play again though. I just looked up Retrogamer (a UK old school gaming magazine) to see if it was available, and I saw that I can now get a subscription via Zinio. I'm currently using the Retrogamer app on iOS which is collated with other magazines in iOS' Newsstand. Maybe more of my zines are available now. I'll definitely concede that as more content becomes available on Google Play, I will come to like it more than iTunes. I don't even use iTunes for playback of music; but there's still the apps, and there's a number of iOS apps which don't exist on Android. So at this point, iTunes is vastly better for me.
I use both Google Play and iTunes. iTunes as a storefront is better, much better. As software, it's a gatekeeper, and I really don't like that. Then again, I really hate the concept of syncing content to my phone vs dragging and dropping onto a mounted volume. iPhones do NOT cost twice as much as similar smart phones. Similar high end smart phones are all about the same, especially when you take into account subsidies. I do not recognize budget Android phones as being similar to even my original Droid. What iPhone has going for it is the software, and software is what matters. USB hasn't been a utopia. I've got numerous USB devices that aren't compatible with each other. I've got multiple connector types. I've got cables that don't seem to work properly with certain USB devices. It's not the mess that it used to be when every phone had its own connector and plug, but really it's not that great. And it's not as if one now has to go and buy multiple cables or replacement hardware or suffer incompatibility between their smart phone and every other USB device they have. With iPhone, this will be more of a hassle though because there are a number of third party products that use the old connector including speakers, alarm clocks, etc. And these are designed to connect snuggly to prominently display the phone, so I don't expect there to be a workable solution short of an ugly adapter cable.
"just live your life like all the heterosexuals do."
That's what most homosexuals are trying to do, but they're being stopped by heterosexuals want to keep that from happening in order to maintain that thin veil of otherness between the two groups.
Same sex marriage proponents feel our viewpoint is the be all end all as you put it for a number of reasons: your opposition against same sex marriage stems from 1) personal discomfort and dislike, and 2) religious belief that marriage is defined as being between one man and one woman. Addressing #1, your personal fears and prejudices ought not legally bind the rights of other groups of people. If you dislike gays or supporters of gays, choose not to associate with them. If you see a gay couple, look away. Think that homosexuality is a "choice" that people make, then deal with it and move on. Not everyone celebrates your choices. And it is not enough to concede the separate but equal policy of civil unions when you know very well there are numerous legal rights which stem from marital status. Addressing #2, your biblical view of marriage is based on highly subjective material that requires interpretation and which isn't even authoritative for law in our pluralistic society anyway. Polygamy was heavy in the Old Testament. Whether monogamy was ultimately the one true way is a matter of theological debate amongst religious scholars. Ignoring the biblical faiths, polygamy was still a very long, very common practice throughout world. Ergo, marriage has never in human history been defined strictly as between one man and one woman, not in the West, not in the East, not even in the United States. Even if we settled on a singular moral source for opposing same sex marriage (requiring that we pick a faith, pick a subcategory religion within that faith, then focus on which interpretation of their holy book we prefer), what we have left is still a mandate that cannot be forced upon an entire nation of people. That's just two of the main opposition arguments. The others are increasingly illogical and emotional.
Pointing out that peaceful opposition is often meant with hostility from same sex proponents is idiotic. Of course, the reaction will be harsh. Newsflash: we're not arguing about Ford vs Chevy, or Coke vs Pepsi, or anything else that's trivial. We are arguing about one group wanting legal recognition of a status (marriage) and all the associated rights (well over 100) that branch from that status vs a group of opponents that seriously argued that if gays are allowed to marry, heterosexual marriages will stop being special and heterosexuals will start pursuing gay relationships.
Opponents of same sex marriage are rightly called homophobic when their arguments against SSM give way to their fears of a homosexuality spreading into the open like wild fire. I don't know of anyone being called a racist for not approving of gay marriage. As for intolerant, I'll concede that ground. It is the pot calling the kettle black. Just as you might be intolerant of gay people wanting to marry or gays just walking above ground during daylight hours and thrusting themselves into the public spotlight by showing affection; I (a heterosexual) am intolerant of heterosexuals and closeted homosexuals that try to prevent all that.
As for a TLD, I missed that meeting where every SSM supporter or gay advocate said that we shall unilaterally pursue a TLD. My guess is that .GAY is an effort to cash in on that mythical sense of community that too many homosexuals have been shepherded into believing exists (gay advocates like Dan Savage have promoted this notoriously). .GAY at best is a domain name cash grab and at worst, an attempt to construct a honeypot that will make it easier to block those scary scary gays with their agenda to convert all our children. Don't worry about the .GAY TLD. The only thing that will make you bow down and visit a .GAY website if your own curiosity.
You kinda failed to ignore Apple yourself there. I might leave Verizon for AT&T as well. They will have the more interesting Windows phone, the iPhone 5, and Androids that aren't Motorola (which I am no longer supporting). Sure, AT&T customers have their own complaints, but for years I've stuck with Verizon because Verizon swore that life outside Verizon walls was no life at all. It was cold and dangerous, and there was no connectivity. It's just not that true in my area. Besides, I know that once I have a 4G phone in my hands, I'll blow through Verizon's paltry bandwidth cap in no time at all (I'm grandfathered unlimited now). There's just no benefit to being with Verizon under the new plans once you discount for connectivity in the middle of nowhere like Mojave unless you really want one of the exclusive phones.
You're probably right. I should admit that to me a lot of today's rock music sounds indistinguishable from other music in the same genre. I'm curious what their sample size was and how samples were selected for study. It all or most of it came from Billboard charts, that might mean the data is skewed towards melodic music to begin with. There are some musicians out there that I just cannot listen to because their sounds are so dissonant; yet, fans will swear that I'm missing out on some uber amazing progressive stuff. Yeah, I'll give the article another read. Maybe there is something to it.
I'm an Apple lover, but I definitely don't want Nintendo following Apple. I've found that it's been very easy to find just the right Nintendo I want for whichever target person. Nintendo has done remarkably well here. It's only really a problem if you're the sort that wants to own one of each because you'll have to buy one more iteration. Apple does make it mostly easy to decide which Apple model one wants, but I myself often tend to fall in between the cracks where there's either overlap between models or a gap which none of the models fill for me.